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The Gap Between Food Stamp Eligibility and Food Stamp Use

After the blackout of August 2003, health officials urged people to avoid eating
spoiled food, issuing an advisory with the slogan, “If in doubt, throw
it out.” People who could not afford to replace discarded food faced a
difficult choice: go hungry or risk getting sick.

The federal food stamp program
allows recipients to apply for replacement benefits after emergencies such
as long power outages, and offers one-time emergency assistance
to low-income people who do not qualify for food stamps. But this was not announced
until August 18, four days after the blackout had begun. The city’s health
department reported an increase in emergency room visits due to diarrhea on
August 16.

To get replacement food stamp benefits, recipients had to report
their food loss to the city’s Human Resource Administration by August
27, and fill out a two-page form to be received by the administration by September
8. Forms were
available from the agency’s 40-plus job centers, as well as from some
community-based organizations.

People who were not receiving food stamps, but
had income below twice the poverty level, could get a cash payment to replace
spoiled food. They had to go to
a food stamp office by August 27 with proof of their income, family size, and
residence
in New York City. They were also required to return a completed application
form to the Human Resources Administration by September 8.

Other Areas Affected by the Blackout Made It Easier to Apply for Food
Assistance

Some
counties in Michigan and New Jersey obtained permission from the federal government
to simplify the process of getting food stamp replacements to people
affected by the August 14 blackout. These counties automatically issued replacement
benefits—about half of a month’s food stamp allotment—to
all food stamp recipients, avoiding the need for individuals to apply for replacement
benefits. According to Vicky Robinson of the United States Department of Agriculture,
New York City and State did not request such permission. Connecticut allowed
people to leave a telephone message for welfare workers instead of going into
the office to report their loss. In Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, welfare offices
were open late to allow people to submit applications after working hours.

There
were 877,868 New York City residents receiving food stamp benefits in July
2003, a rise of seven percent over the previous July. By September 22,
the Human
Resource Administration estimated that it had processed 92,000 applications
for replacement food stamp benefits, all of which were approved, resulting
in grants
of about $12 million. Additional applications were still being processed at
that point.

In at least one instance, the Administration actively sought help
from nonprofit organizations in reaching people who were not applying for food
replacement
assistance. Asian Americans for Equality was contacted by a Chinatown food
stamp office on
August 23, three days before the deadline for notifying the city about loss
of food purchased with food stamp benefits, because few Asians had applied
for replacement
benefits. The organization told Asian community newspapers about this, and
the newspapers ran a story the following day, bringing hundreds of applicants
to
Asian Americans for Equality’s offices that morning. The agency helped
4,000 food stamp recipients to fill out and submit applications by August 27.

Public
Awareness of Food Assistance Options Is Low

The post-blackout food stamp replacement
experience is an extreme example of the gap between resources available to
those in need and their ability to learn
whether and how they can receive them. Between August 13 and August 22, the
Food Bank for New York City surveyed local adults about their need for food
assistance.
The survey found that the majority of city residents do not know they can get
free food from Food Bank’s 1,100 neighborhood soup kitchens and food
pantries.

Nationwide, the majority of clients of soup kitchens who report incomes
low enough to qualify for food stamps are not getting them, often because they
don’t
know they are eligible. For the same reason, nearly half of the eligible families
who are soup kitchen clients do not receive food benefits especially meant
for babies, young children and their mothers; and children in one in five such
families
do not receive free school lunch. In New York City, all children are now offered
free breakfast on school days.

Refunds May Be Returned to Recipients Paying
Back Food Stamp Debts

Once a person begins to receive food stamp assistance,
he or she is responsible for returning extra benefits paid out by mistake,
regardless of whether the
mistake was caused by fraud on the part of the recipient, by an inadvertent
error in
the recipient’s claim statement, or by government error. Since 1996,
federal law requires states to take strong action to get back food stamp overpayments.
New York State stopped this process in 2000, because of a class action suit
on
behalf of food stamp recipients that was filed by the New York Legal Assistance
Group and the Greater Upstate Law Project.

The legal advocates acknowledged
the state’s right to intercept income
tax refunds to pay off food stamp debts, but argued that New York had done
so improperly. The lawsuit claimed that people were not adequately notified
that
their refunds would be taken, and not given a chance to appeal the decision
to do so. The lawyers also argued that there were errors in deciding whether
people
actually received overpayments, and that some overpayments happened so long
ago that they no longer must be repaid.

On September 5, 2003, the court accepted
a settlement under which the state can resume taking back overpayments, but
must follow new procedures. The 4,000
New
Yorkers whose refunds were taken will either receive checks automatically
for the seized refunds, or will be notified that they can argue their case
at a
fair hearing. The average refund seized was about $550.

Linda Ostreicher, a former budget analyst for the New York City Council, is a freelance writer and consultant to nonprofits. She is currently on the staff of Bronx Independent Living Services.

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